La Gasolinera (Gas Station)

sova.nmai.ac.071_ref9

See more items in: Michael Plyler photographs from Guatemala; Michael Plyler photographs from Guatemala / Series 1: Ixil / 1.1: Ixil photographic prints

Collection Citation: Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Michael Plyler photographs from Guatemala, image #, NMAI.AC.071; National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Collection Rights: Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website.

Scope and Contents: Photograph of a Gas Station. Photographed by Michael Plyler in Nebaj, Guatemala. Same image as Roll 12 in Subseries 1.2. Description from Plyler: "1985 was the first and only time I drove my own vehicle down to Guatemala. I left Las Vegas, Nevada with my friend Jim Bush and we drove through Arizona, New Mexico, and into Texas where we crossed the border into Mexico and then on to Guatemala. My mother thought for sure we would die either in Mexico or Guatemala. I was really looking forward to the freedom of having my own vehicle and going into the remote hinterlands with no concern about being able to carry enough stuff or the discomfort of 'chicken buses.' Unfortunately when we got to Guatemala we learned that gas was being rationed throughout the country and the remote locations such as Nebaj were receiving the sparest of rations. I pulled into Nebaj on fumes and saw this scene before me. I stopped short of the gas station and made this photo with a 150mm lens on my medium format Mamiya 645. Then I got the ration limit of 10 quetzales (the local currency named after the national bird) worth of gas. The next day a new ration began, I got 10 more quetzales' worth, and was able to get back to Antigua."

Collection Restrictions: Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).

NMAI.AC.071_ref9

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv45ccd4c4d-f1ed-423e-8da0-aa75bf04b272

NMAI.AC.071

NMAIA

Michael Plyler photographs from Guatemala

Creator

Plyler, Michael, 1955-

Summary

This collection consists of photographic prints, negatives, and transparencies taken by Michael Plyler between 1982 and 2018 that depict the everyday lives of five Highland Maya community groups from Guatemala. Also included are images of churches, buildings, and historic structures from Guatemala.